"We do not need people who have been missing in action and lost somewhere for the last 20 years to wake up one day and decide they want to be the mayor of the City of Chicago," Watkins said during a candidates' forum at a South Side church.

"Patricia, the reason you didn't know where I was the last 20 years is because you were strung out on crack," Braun replied. From the altar.

Watkins, who admits to drug use earlier in her life, says she has been sober for 25 years.

"Runoff." Some locals are wringing their hands over the snow-melt runoff prompted by our recent spate of warm days. "The amount of salt and pollutants that are going to be flowing into our watershed is going to be amazing," Uptown resident Richard Faulkner told the Tribune this week.

The mayor hopefuls — and political junkies — are concerned with a different kind of runoff. Specifically, whether two candidates will face each other in one. To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote. If no one reaches that mark, a runoff election will be held April 5 for the top two vote-getters. As of Tuesday, Emanuel had 49 percent to Gery Chico's 19 percent. Braun had 10 percent and Miguel del Valle was at 8 percent.

"Rahm tax." Chico's term for Emanuel's proposed tax on certain luxury services such as Botox and elite health club memberships. The former Chicago Public Schools chief turned the "Rahm tax" into a major platform as he toured gyms and other local business.

The Huffington Post ran a story earlier this month asking, "What is the Rahm tax?" What we're left wondering is this: Would the phrase have nearly the same zing if Emanuel's first name were Roger? Or Jeff?

"It's time." The phrase, uttered by Mayor Richard M. Daley on Sept. 7, that set the whole kaleidoscope of events in motion.

"It's time, everybody is replaceable in life, no one is here forever," Daley said during a reception at the Chicago Cultural Center. "I knew it was my time… You know like anything else, it's time, it's personal, there wasn't one reason at all and it's hard for people to understand that and this was the best kept secret in Chicago."